My Work Rocks Box

Looking for a way to make your kindergartners produce quality work each and every day ~ so it becomes a "habit" for them to be very proud of creating nice and neat work daily!?!  Try...My Work Rocks Box!

All you have to do is create a special pencil box full of new Twistable Crayola Crayons and Colored Pencils, a mechanical pencil, glue stick, eraser, and a pair of scissors.  

How do the kiddos get to USE the special box?  They have to earn it through producing NICE and NEAT work!  The "My Work Rocks!" BOX will be theirs to use for one day, along with a little award to take home and share with their parents.  I am guessing that their friends at the table will be "jealous" enough to try and earn the box for themselves!

Click here to see more ideas for Kindergarten!

LuAnn & Amber 

Friends like you make life "SPARKLE"!

Each year you search for the that one special person to come to your school and inspire the students....I could not have been in a better place at the right time.  I met Debbie Clement (again) at the UW~Stout  35th Early Childhood Conference this past weekend.  With open arms...she came to our school and put on the most amazing  performance.  She kept our students engaged AT ALL TIMES! 

One student...who thinks EVERYTHING is boring and he is not going to learn a thing said on the way out of Debbie's assembly...Mrs. Teacher please tell me she is coming back again!  

Here is the greatest news....she is the opening keynote speaker at the I teach K SDE conference in Vegas.  LuAnn & I were not going to go to the conference until July 2014...but we might have to have a couple bake sales or lemonade stands to fund our trip this year!  You don't want to miss her!  Click {right here}to learn more about it! 

If you would like Debbie Clement to come to your school.  Click {right here} to learn about all her workshops!  "Basically what I am telling you is get Debbie to your school NOW!" Quote by Greg at Kindergarten Smorgasboard.  Greg also blogged about Debbie Clement.  If Greg blogged about her...she is something!!!  Click {here} to check out A Kindergarten Smorgasboard post on a Day of AWESOMENESS!

You can have Debbie in your classroom tomorrow.  Just...click {right here now}to go to her TPT shop.  Debbie's books are AMAZING and the lyrics she has to go along with those songs are BEAUTIFUL!  Your kids will LOVE these songs!  I am going to use the song "Glad I'm At School"  each morning to start out each day on a positive note! 

You have to take the time to check out Debbie's blog.  Click {right here} to go to Rainbows Within Reach!  THANK YOU Debbie for your words, your music, your heart, and your time.  

Thanks for reading, Amber

A Proud Day to Be a Teacher!

We had the honor of attending the Herb Kohl Education Foundation Awards Banquet in Green Bay, Wisconsin this past weekend.  LuAnn Neuenschwander received a Herb Kohl Fellowship Award, which is a prestigious award among the teachers in the state of Wisconsin, and LuAnn & I got our picture taken together with former Senator Kohl.

LuAnn, Sen. Herb Kohl, Amber

  He told stories from his childhood, which included how his father instilled the love of learning and the importance of education in him.  During the two hour event, we were enlightened with stories of how great our students and teachers are doing in Wisconsin.  Kohl praised all of the state's educators for their dedication to our students and to the educational profession.  His comments were very inspirational!  

We would like to share an inspirational quote from Herb Kohl...

"An overwhelming majority (of educators) are enormously dedicated and competent and are willing and do an enormous amount of work and put in a tremendous amount of time, on and off the clock, to ensure that their students are given the best opportunity to learn and grow."

It was a proud day to be an educator!  Thank you, Sen. Kohl, for all you do for education!

Amber and LuAnn

  

We're Aquaholics!

Let's just skip spring and bring on summer.  Sand between our toes, relaxing sound of the waves, and being a beach bum sounds perfect to us!  Until then....we are excited to share our Ocean Emergent Reader with you!  

Click {here} to check it out at TPT
Click {right here}  to check it out at Teachers Notebook

Also in the book you will find...

• Fish have scales.
• Turtles have flippers.
• Octopus have tentacles.
• Seahorses have snouts.
• Sharks have a fins.

In this unit you will find...





Emergent reader

Emergent reader with fill-in-the-word

Worksheet



Word cards for pocket chart

Don't forget to check out our Math & Literacy Ocean Units.

Click {HERE} to go to last year's Ocean post.

Check out our TPT shop.

• Click {right here} to see our Ocean Literacy Unit
• Clck {right here}  to see our Ocean Math Unit

Click  to go to our Teachers Notebook shop.

• Click {here now} to see our Ocean Math Unit
• Click {here now}  to see our Ocean Literacy Unit

Thanks for reading!  Enjoy your break!
Amber & LuAnn

TGIF

You know it has been a long week when you go to unlock your classroom door by hitting your car door opener...and wonder why it won't open! 

Click {right here} to watch this little pep talk...too cute!

Enjoy your weekend!     

Nursery Rhyme Fun!

Nursery Rhymes are fun!

Children love them!

Most importantly…They provide a warm, nurturing experience between an adult and child.

Songs and rhymes for young children have been passed down for generations.  Sad to say…this is not always the case anymore.  
 

“Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.”  After I read that, I have been reciting nursery rhymes with Cayden like crazy!  

Isn't he just A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!?!

There is an enormous educational value in teaching nursery rhymes.  Here is how we use Nursery Rhymes in our classroom as a teaching tool. 

Nursery Rhyme Fluency Chart (Color & Black and White)

Nursery Rhyme Game (Color & Black and White)

Illustrating Nursery Rhymes

Labeling Nursery Rhymes with word bank

Labeling Nursery Rhymes without word bank

Matching Nursery Rhyme picture to word phrase

If you like what you see...you can click {here}  to purchase our Nursery Rhyme Unit! 

Because nursery rhymes are so popular, many children who don’t even know each other will still have these in common and care share the knowledge of each nursery rhyme.

If you and their friends are excited about making rhymes, finding patterns, substituting words etc., they will be too - it will rub off.

Thanks for reading,
Amber & LuAnn

Theme Giveaway Winners!

Thanks to all the great bloggers who participated in our super giveaway!  We enjoyed reading EVERY sweet comment...and it just reassured me/us that thematic centers are very beneficial to our students in many ways!  I wish everyone blogging friend could win!

Lucky # 8 - Suzanne Sweeney

Lucky # 60 - Jessica

 

Watch your e-mail for all the units! 

 

Blogging Friends...Enjoy the rest of your school year!!!